A Canadian who became a vaccination advocate after the death of her son says she has been subjected to hundreds of online attacks in recent days from an anti-vaccination Facebook group, highlighting what she says is the social-media giant’s failure to curb false and dangerous information about immunization.

Jill Promoli started the advocacy group For Jude, For Everyone after her two-year-old son Jude died as a result of the flu in 2016. Last week, Ms. Promoli created a post on the group’s Facebook page to mark the start of National Immunization Awareness Week. In the post, she explained that her son received a flu shot, but failed to develop immunity and died after contracting the virus.

She wrote that if more people were vaccinated, it would reduce the incidence and spread of such illnesses. The post was shared on an anti-vaccination Facebook group, and the For Jude, For Everyone page was inundated with posts that blamed Ms. Promoli for the death of her child and claimed that she was lying about the cause of his death.

“It was very aggressive,” said Ms. Promoli, who lives in Mississauga. “It became sort of a mob mentality.”

The case shows that groups can still spread false messages and attack vaccine advocates despite efforts by social-media companies to shut them down. Vaccination opponents have even used Facebook’s mechanism for reporting objectionable material to have Ms. Promoli’s page blocked.

The attacks seemed to come from members of a closed anti-vaccination Facebook group called Vaccine Education Network: Natural Health Anti-Vaxx Community. The group has a public page and a closed group that only members can view. A member of the closed group told Ms. Promoli her Facebook post was shared on that page and to expect negative comments. The administrator of the public group did not respond to a request for comment.

Ms. Promoli said she likes to promote conversations about vaccines, but felt compelled to remove many of the comments because of their misleading and hurtful content. She said that only seemed to embolden members of the anti-vaccination group, who continued to write on her page.

Ms. Promoli said this is the latest of several co-ordinated attacks from anti-vaccination groups, and that Facebook failed to take action each time. In fact, Facebook has blocked her advocacy page and her business page several times after anti-vaccination users reported them, saying they contained malicious content.

Ms. Promoli said she has learned it is common for large numbers of anti-vaccination users to report pro-vaccination pages to get them blocked or removed. She added that after this happens, it is difficult to get the pages reactivated.

Ms. Promoli said she got her pages unblocked only after contacting a friend of a friend who worked at Facebook, and that many other pro-vaccination users have to start from scratch. She said this happens because no one at Facebook appears to be paying close attention.

By now it should be clear that most social media in general, and Facebook in particular, are hazards to public health. Twitter is pretty messed up, but it at least offers Flublogia a venue to swap news and information.

Facebook, however, seems beyond redemption. If it's not stealing your country, or selling you useless shit, it's compounding the misery of those who survive avoidable illnesses. Unless it's nationalized, and its senior staff are consigned to Guantanamo for the rest of their natural lives, Facebook has no redeeming value.

April 26, 2019

The ECDC Communicable Disease Threats Report (CDTR) is a weekly bulletin for epidemiologists and health professionals on active public health threats. This issue covers the period from 21–27 April 2019 and includes updates on influenza A(H7N9), chikungunya and dengue, dengue, Ebola virus disease, influenza, Rift Valley fever and risks of communicable diseases related to Cyclone Idai.

Findings from the community-based Canadian Sentinel Practitioner Surveillance Network (SPSN) suggest children were more affected by the 2018/19 influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 epidemic.

Aim

To compare the age distribution of A(H1N1)pdm09 cases in 2018/19 to prior seasonal influenza epidemics in Canada.

Methods

The age distribution of unvaccinated influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 cases and test-negative controls were compared across A(H1N1)pdm09-dominant epidemics in 2018/19, 2015/16 and 2013/14 and with the general population of SPSN provinces. Similar comparisons were undertaken for influenza A(H3N2)-dominant epidemics.

Results

In 2018/19, more influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 cases were under 10 years old than controls (29% vs 16%; p < 0.001). In particular, children aged 5–9 years comprised 14% of cases, greater than their contribution to controls (4%) or the general population (5%) and at least twice their contribution in 2015/16 (7%; p < 0.001) or 2013/14 (5%; p < 0.001). Conversely, children aged 10–19 years (11% of the population) were under-represented among A(H1N1)pdm09 cases versus controls in 2018/19 (7% vs 12%; p < 0.001), 2015/16 (7% vs 13%; p < 0.001) and 2013/14 (9% vs 12%; p = 0.12).

Conclusion

Children under 10 years old contributed more to outpatient A(H1N1)pdm09 medical visits in 2018/19 than prior seasonal epidemics in Canada. In 2018/19, all children under 10 years old were born after the 2009 A(H1N1)pdm09 pandemic and therefore lacked pandemic-induced immunity. In addition, more than half those born after 2009 now attend school (i.e. 5–9-year-olds), a socio-behavioural context that may enhance transmission and did not apply during prior A(H1N1)pdm09 epidemics.

The Ministry of Health has faced scathing criticism for failing to inform the public about the presence of the influenza H1N1 in the country, following yesterday’s revelation by broadcaster Alan Magnus that his late wife Karlene ‘Kerry’ Douglas died last Friday due to complications associated with the virus.

“I have heard of several people dying from it. [For] Kerry’s death, the paper which we got from the hospital stated that that’s what she died from,” Magnus said while speaking on RJR 94 FM.

Yesterday, Nicole Dawkins-Wright, acting director of emergency, disaster management and special services in the Ministry of Health, confirmed that three Jamaicans have died as a result of the H1N1 influenza virus in St Ann, Kingston, and St Catherine. It was also revealed that there were six confirmed and 110 suspected cases across the island since the start of the year.

She also told The Gleaner that the H1N1 virus present in the island is not the swine flu strain.

• Of 45 countries reporting on geographic spread only 11, located in northern, southern, and western areas of the European Region, reported widespread activity. Specimens collected from individuals presenting with ILI or ARI to sentinel primary health care sites yielded an influenza virus positivity rate of 38%, similar to the rate of 39% in the previous week.

March 15, 2019

• Influenza activity was widespread in the European Region. Specimens collected from individuals presenting with ILI or ARI to sentinel primary health care sites yielded an influenza virus positivity rate of 42.8%.

• Influenza type A virus detections dominated with slightly more A(H1N1)pdm09 than A(H3N2) viruses. Very few influenza B viruses were detected.

• 28.3% of specimens from patients with severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) collected in week 10/2019 tested positive for influenza virus, and almost all were type A.

• Pooled data from 22 Member States and areas reporting to the EuroMOMO project indicated that the excess mortality observed in previous weeks continued to decline. Excess mortality was seen in persons aged 65 years and above and, to a lesser extent, in persons 15-64 years.

In the World Health Organization European Region, the 2018/19 influenza season started in week 49 2018, crossing 10% virus-positivity in sentinel surveillance specimens. At week 5 2019, activity remained elevated with positivity rates at 55%. Both A(H1N1)pdm09 and A(H3N2) viruses circulated widely and detection levels in primary care and hospital settings were similar to past seasons. Hospitalisation data may suggest an increased susceptibility to A(H1N1)pdm09 virus in older age groups.

February 22, 2019

The ECDC Communicable Disease Threats Report (CDTR) is a weekly bulletin for epidemiologists and health professionals on active public health threats. This issue covers the period from 17-23 February 2019 and includes updates on Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), chikungunya virus disease and dengue, Ebola virus disease, influenza, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Salmonella Poona and influenza A(H9N2).

Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 and A(H3N2) viruses both circulated in Europe in October 2018–January 2019. Interim results from six studies indicate that 2018/19 influenza vaccine effectiveness (VE) estimates among all ages in primary care was 32–43% against influenza A; higher against A(H1N1)pdm09 and lower against A(H3N2). Among hospitalised older adults, VE estimates were 34–38% against influenza A and slightly lower against A(H1N1)pdm09. Influenza vaccination is of continued benefit during the ongoing 2018/19 influenza season.